1- O God,
Thou hast helped me complete Thy Book,
which Thou sent down as a light1
and appointed as a guardian over every book Thou hast sent down,2
preferring it over every narrative which Thou hast recounted,3

2- a separator, through which Thou hast separated
Thy lawful from Thy unlawful,4
a Qur'an, through which Thou hast made plain
the approaches to Thy ordinances,5
a book, which Thou hast distinguished very distinctly for Thy servants,6
a revelation, which Thou hast sent down,
a sending down, upon Thy prophet Muhammad7
(Thy blessings be upon him and his Household).

3- Thou appointed it
a light through following which we may be guided
from the shadows of error and ignorance,8
a healing for him who turns ear toward hearing it with the understanding of attestation,9
a just balance whose tongue does not incline away from truth,10
a light of guidance whose proof is not extinguished before the witnesses,11
and a guidepost of deliverance, so that
he who repairs straightway to its prescription
will not go astray
and he who clings to its preservation's handhold
will not be touched by the hands of disasters.

4- O God,
since Thou hast given us help to recite it
and made smooth the roughness of our tongues
through the beauty of its expression,
place us among those who
observe it as it should be observed,
serve Thee by adhering in submission
to the firm text of its verses,
and seek refuge in admitting both its ambiguous parts
and the elucidations of its clear signs!

5- O God, Thou sent it down upon Thy prophet Muhammad
(God bless him and his household) in summary form,
Thou inspired him with the science of its wonders to complement it,
Thou made us the heirs of its knowledge as interpreters,12
Thou made us to surpass him who is ignorant of its knowledge,
and Thou gave us strength over it
to raise us above those not able to carry it.

6- O God, just as Thou hast appointed our hearts
as its carriers
and made known to us through Thy mercy
its nobility and excellence,
so also bless Muhammad, its preacher,
and his Household, its guardians,
and place us among those who confess that it has come from Thee,
lest doubt about attesting to it assail us,
or deviation from its straightforward path shake us!

7- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household
and make us one of those who hold fast to its cord,
seek haven from its ambiguities in its fortified stronghold,
rest in the shadow of its wing,
find guidance in the brightness of its morning,
follow the shining of its disclosure,
acquire light from its lamp,
and beg not guidance from any other!

8- O God, just as through it Thou hast set up Muhammad
as a guidepost to point to Thee
and through his Household Thou hast made clear Thy good pleasure's roads to Thee,
so also bless Muhammad and his Household
and make the Qur'an our mediation to the noblest stations of Thy honour,
a ladder by which we may climb
to the place of safety,
a cause for our being repaid
with deliverance at the Plain of Resurrection,
and a means whereby we may reach
the bliss of the House of Permanence!

9- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,
lessen for us through the Qur'an the weight of heavy sins,
give to us the excellent qualities of the pious,
and make us follow the tracks of those who stood before Thee
in the watches of the night and the ends of the day,13
such that Thou purifiest us from every defilement through its purification
and makest us to follow the tracks of those
who have taken illumination from its light
and whom expectation has not distracted from works,
cutting them off through its delusions' deceptions!

10- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household
and appoint the Qur'an
for us an intimate in the shadows of nights
and a guardian against the instigations of Satan
and confusing thoughts,
for our feet an obstruction from passing to acts of disobedience,
for our tongues a silencer without blight
preventing a plunge into falsehood,
for our limbs a restrainer from committing sins,
and for the scrutiny of heedfulness
rolled up in heedlessness an unroller,
such that Thou attachest to our hearts
the understanding of the Qur'an's wonders
and its restraining similitudes
which immovable mountains in all their solidity
were too weak to carry!14

11- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household
and through the Qur'an make permanent the rightness of our outward selves,
veil the ideas of confusing thoughts
from the soundness of our innermost minds,
wash away the dirt of our hearts and the ties of our heavy sins,
gather our scattered affairs,
quench the thirst of our burning heat in the standing place of the presentation to Thee,
and clothe us in the robes of security
on the Day of the Greatest Terror at our uprising!15

12- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household
and through the Qur'an redress our lack - our destitution in poverty -
drive toward us the comforts of life
and an abundance of plentiful provisions,
turn aside blameworthy character traits
and base moral qualities,
and preserve us from the pit of unbelief
and the motives for hypocrisy,
such that the Qur'an may be
for us at the resurrection a leader
to Thy good pleasure and Thy gardens,
for us in this world a protector against Thy displeasure and transgressing Thy bounds
and for what is with Thee a witness
by its declaring lawful the lawful
and its declaring unlawful the unlawful!

13- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household
and through the Qur'an make easy for our souls at death
the distress of the driving,16
the effort of the moaning,
and the succession of the rattling, when souls reach the throatsand it is said, 'Where is the enchanter?';17
when the angel of death discloses himself to seize them from behind the veils of unseen things,
letting loose at them from the bow of destinies
the arrows of the terror of lonesome separation,
and mixing for them from sudden death
a cup poisoned to the taste;
and when departure and release for the hereafter come close to us,
works become collars around the necks,18
and the graves become the haven
until the appointed time of the Day of Encounter!

14-O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,
make blessed for us the arrival at the house of decay
and the drawn out residence between the layers of the earth,
appoint the graves, after separation from this world, the best of our waystations,
make roomy for us through Thy mercy the narrowness of our tombs,
and disgrace us not among those present at the Resurrection through our ruinous sins!

15- Through the Qur'an
have mercy upon the lowliness of our station at the standing place of presentation to Thee,
make firm the slips of our feet during the shaking of the bridge across hell on the day of passage over it,
illuminate the darkness of our graves before the Uprising,
and deliver us from every distress on the Day of Resurrection
and from the hardships of terrors on the Day of Disaster!

16- Whiten our faces on the day when the faces of wrongdoers are blackened19
during the Day of Regret and Remorse,
appoint love for us in the breasts of the faithful,
and make not life for us troublesome!

18- O God, on the Day of Resurrection make our Prophet
(Thy blessings be upon him and his Household)
the nearest of the prophets to Thee in seat,
the ablest of them before Thee with intercession,
the greatest of them with Thee in measure,
and the most eminent of them with Thee in rank!

19- O God, bless Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad,
ennoble his edifice, magnify his proof,
make weighty his balance, accept his intercession,
bring near his mediation,20
whiten his face, complete his light, and raise his degree!

20- Make us live according to his Sunna,
make us die in his creed,
take us on his road, make us travel his path,
place us among the people who obey him,
muster us in his band, lead us to up his pool,21
and give us to drink of his cup!

21- And bless Muhammad and his Household,
with a blessing through which Thou wilt take him
to the most excellent of Thy good, Thy bounty, and Thy generosity for which he hopes!
Thou art Possessor of boundless mercy
and generous bounty.

22- O God, repay him for Thy messages which he delivered,
Thy signs which he passed on,
the good counsel he gave to Thy servants,
and the struggle he undertook in Thy way,
with the best Thou hast repaid any of Thy angels brought nigh
and Thy prophets sent out and chosen!
And upon him and his Household,
the good, the pure,
be peace, God's mercy, and His blessings!

11. According to Sayyid ''Alikhan, by 'witnesses' the Imam means either those who bear witness to God's Unity and to the prophets, since the Qur'an is their greatest proof, or the Prophet and his Household, who are (according to the Shi'ite interpretation) the witnesses referred to in the verse:

Thus We appointed you a midmost nation that you might be witnesses to the people, and that the Messenger might be a witness to you (2:143).

12. Here the prayer's specific reference to the Imam's own situation leads the commentators to suggest altering the text when it is recited. Sayyid ''Alikhan suggests that one should make the following changes: warrathtana -> warrathta awsiya'ahu; faddaltana -> faddaltahum; qawwaytana -> qawwaytahum; tarfa'ana -> tarfa'ahum. The meaning would then be: 'Thou madest his executors the heirs of its knowledge as interpreters, Thou preferred them over him who is ignorant of its knowledge, and Thou gavest them strength to lift them above...'.

13. Allusion to 20:130: Proclaim thy Lord's praise.... in the watches of the night, and at the ends of the day.

14. Allusion to 59:21: If We had sent down the Qur'an upon a mountain, thou wouldst have seen it humbled, split asunder out of the fear of God.

20. The 'mediation' is mentioned in 5:35: O you who have faith, fear God and seek the mediation to Him.

'Mediation' may mean simply the means of access to God, defined in terms of any work of obedience or pious act. But most commentators point out the verse's connection to a well-known saying of the Prophet concerning 'mediation' as the highest station of Paradise, and this in turn is normally defined as the permission God will give to the Prophet at the Resurrection to intercede for his community.

The Prophet said: 'When you hear the muezzin, repeat what he says, then call down blessings upon me. If someone calls down a blessing upon me, God will call down ten upon him.

Then ask that I be given the mediation, for it is a station in the Garden suited only for one of God's servants, and I hope to be that one. If anyone asks that I be given the mediation, my intercession for him will become lawful' (Muslim, Salat 11; Tirmidhi, Manaqib I; Abu Dawud, Salat 36; Ahmad II, 168, 265; III 83). Padwick discusses the connection between mediation and intercession in Muslim Devotions, Ch. 2, 'The Prayer of Mediation' (the relationship between the two can be seen in the present work in 65.4-5, 66.3-4, 78.1). On the mediation of the Imams, see note 217.

21. Allusion to the 'Pool of Abundance' in Paradise, which, according to several hadith, is the meaning of the 'Abundance' which God gave to the Prophet as mentioned in 108:1.

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